Travelers returned home and donated historical materials to form the "Spanish Encyclopedia" for overseas Chinese in Qingtian, Zhejiang

China News Service, Lishui, November 6 (Zhou Jian, Shu Xuying, Zhang Junying) Recently, the Overseas Chinese Historical Materials Collection Office of Qingtian County, Lishui, Zhejiang, completed the collection and archiving of historical materials donated by Spanish overseas Chinese Xu Songhua, which lasted 13 years. This batch of 3,225 precious archives packed into 25 boxes can be called the "Spanish Encyclopedia" of overseas Chinese in Qingtian, leaving first-hand evidence for studying the entrepreneurial history of overseas Chinese in Western China, the history of overseas Chinese trade, and the process of fighting "independence" and promoting reunification.

Xu Songhua has been abroad for more than 40 years and has been engaged in overseas Chinese affairs for 37 years. He is a well-known overseas Chinese leader and social activist in the overseas Chinese community in Western China. He has served as director, deputy secretary-general, vice-president and secretary-general of the Spanish Overseas Chinese Association since the 1980s, and was elected as the 12th and 13th president. In 2000, he initiated the establishment of the Spanish China Peaceful Reunification Promotion Association and served as president. He has long-term cooperation with overseas Chinese leaders from all over Europe to promote the work of overseas Chinese around the world in opposing "independence" and promoting reunification.

Xu Songhua loved the work of the overseas Chinese community and attached great importance to the historical materials of the overseas Chinese community in the West. In the past thirteen years, every time he traveled between China and the West, he deliberately brought all kinds of overseas Chinese historical materials that he had collected for many years back to Qingtian, and successively donated them to the local Overseas Chinese Federation. Finally, he gathered the scattered materials into this large and complete set of overseas Chinese historical archives.

"Every time I go back to my hometown, I don't bring valuables, but batches of historical materials." Xu Songhua said, "Qingtian is a famous hometown of overseas Chinese. Our ancestors went through many hardships overseas. I hope to fully preserve the past struggles of overseas Chinese and tell them to future generations of overseas Chinese, so that the second and third generations of overseas Chinese can firmly hold on to their roots."

It is reported that this batch of historical materials is divided into three parts: historical materials of Xu Songhua’s personal experience, historical materials of the Overseas Chinese Association in Spain, and historical materials of the Spanish Association for the Promotion of Peaceful Reunification of China. It contains 500 high-quality large-size images, which vividly capture the real years when overseas Chinese in Qingtian, western China, opened stores and operated overseas, helped each other, and participated in local social activities.

What is particularly valuable is that these archives contain complete first-hand documents on several important rights protection events for overseas Chinese living in Western China. They are important materials for studying the changes in foreign trade and the development of overseas Chinese trade in Qingtian after China's accession to the WTO.

"This batch of historical materials is, to a certain extent, a microcosm of the development history of the Qingtian overseas Chinese group in the west. It is not only huge in quantity, but also very detailed in content. During the process of sorting, we adopted the principle of preserving the original data and tried to preserve the original state of the data when we received it. We completed the sorting, numbering and archiving work piece by piece." said Chen Zhanbo, a staff member of the Qingtian Overseas Chinese Historical Materials Collection Office.

"Overseas Chinese have many opportunities to return to their hometowns every year. Historical materials on different topics can be displayed during the Spring Festival, Qingming Festival, summer camps, Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays to form vivid hometown education and patriotism education." Xu Songhua suggested that in the future, these precious historical materials can also be publicly displayed in special themes around different themes such as the development of overseas Chinese trade, the history of overseas Chinese groups, and patriotism.

At present, the preliminary compilation and archiving work of this batch of historical materials has been completed, and will be officially opened for use in university research, overseas Chinese history and overseas Chinese affairs history compilation and other related work, so that this precious archive, which carries the memories of generations of overseas Chinese living in Western China, can exert greater social and historical value. (over)